Prelate

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Prelate

A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy

Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from the Greek language ?????? - kleros, "a lot", "that which is assigned by lot" or metaphorically, "heritage"....
who either is an ordinary

Ordinary

In those hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ecclesiastical law system, an ordinary is an officer of the church who by reason of office has ordinary power to executive the church's laws....
or ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
prælatus, the past participle of præferre, literally, "carry before," or "to be set above, or over," or "to prefer," hence a prelate is one set over others.

Related terminology
A prelature is the office of a prelate or the entire juridical entity which the prelate governs.

Prelacy is the body of prelates as a whole, or a system of government, administration, or ministry by prelates.

The archetypal prelate is a bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
, whose prelature is his particular church

Particular Church

In Catholic theology and Canon law , a particular Church is an ecclesial community headed by a bishop or someone recognized as the equivalent of a bishop....
.

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Encyclopedia

A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy

Clergy

Ordinary

Latin

Related terminology

A prelature is the office of a prelate or the entire juridical entity which the prelate governs.

Prelacy is the body of prelates as a whole, or a system of government, administration, or ministry by prelates.

The archetypal prelate is a bishop

Bishop

Particular Church

In Catholic theology and Canon law , a particular Church is an ecclesial community headed by a bishop or someone recognized as the equivalent of a bishop....
. All other prelates, including the regular

Religious order

A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice....
prelates such as abbot

Abbot

The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery....
s and major superiors, are based upon this original model of prelacy.

Sometimes the clergy

Clergy

Hierarchy

A 'hierarchy' is an arrangement of items The word derives from the Greek language , from ?e?????? , "president of sacred rites, high-priest" and that from , "sacred" + , "to lead, to rule"....
are called prelates without having ordinary jurisdiction, which etymologically suggests that the prelate enjoys legal privileges and power as a result of clerical status.

Territorial prelatures

A territorial prelature is a quasi-diocesean jurisdiction over a defined area. Territorial prelates have some or most of the authority of a bishop, and are subject only to the authority of the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church....
. , there are 49 territorial prelatures, all in the Latin Church.

A territorial prelate is, in Catholic usage, a prelate whose geographic jurisdiction, called territorial prelature, does not belong to any diocese. A territorial prelate is sometimes called a prelate nullius, from the Latin nullius diœceseos, prelate "of no diocese," meaning the territory falls directly under the jurisdiction of the pope and is not a diocese under a residing bishop.

The term is also used in a generic sense, and may then equally refer to an apostolic prefecture, and apostolic vicariate or a territorial abbacy (see there).

Personal prelatures

In the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
, the personal prelature was conceived during the sessions of the Second Vatican Council

Second Vatican Council

The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965....
in no. 10 of the decree Presbyterorum ordinis and was later enacted into law by Paul VI in his motu proprio
Motu proprio

A motu proprio is a document issued by the Pope on his own initiative and personally signed by him.It may be addressed to the whole Church, to part of it, or to some individuals....
Ecclesiae sanctae. The institution was later reaffirmed in the 1983 Code of Canon Law

Canon law (Catholic Church)

Canon Law, the ecclesiastical law of the Catholic Church, is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code and principles of legal interpretation....
.Personal Prelatures cann. 294–297, Such a prelature is an institution having clergy and (possibly) lay members which would carry out specific pastoral activities. The adjective personal refers to the fact that, in contrast with previous canonical

Canon law

Canon law is internal ecclesiastical law governing the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church churches, and the Anglicanism of churches....
use for ecclesiastical institutions, the jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

In law, jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility....
of the prelate is not linked to a territory but over persons wherever they be. The establishment of personal prelatures is an exercise of the theologically

Theology

Theology is the study of the existence or attributes of a deity or gods, or more generally the study of religion or spirituality. It is sometimes contrasted with religious studies: theology is understood as the study of religion from an internal perspective , and religious studies as the study of religion from an external perspective....
inherent power of self-organization which the Church has to pursue its mission, though a personal prelature is not a particular church

Particular Church

In Catholic theology and Canon law , a particular Church is an ecclesial community headed by a bishop or someone recognized as the equivalent of a bishop....
as diocese

Diocese

In many rites of the Roman Catholic Church and in Anglicanism, a diocese is an administrative territorial unit administered by a bishop. It is also referred to as a bishopric or Episcopal Area or episcopal see, though strictly the term episcopal see refers to the domain of ecclesiastical authority officially held by the bi...
s and military ordinariate

Military ordinariate

A military ordinariate is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction responsible for the pastoral care of Christians serving in the military of a nation.Most military ordinariates are exempt diocesan equivalents of the Roman Catholic Church, both Latin and Eastern Rites, directly subject to the Pope....
s are.

Personal prelatures are fundamentally secular organizations operating in the world (members take no vows and live normal, everyday lives), whereas religious orders are religious organizations operating out of the world (members take vows and lead lives in accordance with their specific organization).

The first (and , only) personal prelature is Opus Dei

Opus Dei

Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches the Catholic belief that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity....
, which was elevated to a personal prelature by Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II John Paul II is widely acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century. He has been Pope_John_Paul_II#Role_in_the_fall_of_Communism in bringing down communism in Eastern Europe, as well as significantly improving the Roman Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and A...
in 1982 through the Apostolic constitution

Apostolic constitution

An apostolic constitution is the highest level of decree issued by the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. The use of the term constitution comes from Latin language constitutio, which referred to any important law issued by the Roman emperor, and is retained in church documents because of the inheritance that the canon law of the R...
Ut sit. In the case of Opus Dei, the prelate is elected by members of the prelature and confirmed by the Pope, the laity and clergy of the prelature are still under the governance of the particular church where they live, and the laity associated with the prelature (both men and women) are organically united under the jurisdiction of the prelate.